St Mary's Calne
Mona (UV) is the founder of Sweet Stitch Crochet, a not-for-profit crochet society with a passion for helping children in need by creating 'bonding blankets' for babies in intensive care units in hospitals. Here Mona explains how she created Sweet Stitch, and what the society has achieved so far:
'When researching for a way to help people, my mind landed on the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) babies. These infants are often born premature, are very fragile and therefore have to spend the first few months of their lives in the hospital, sometimes away from their parents for long stretches of time. With the supervision of the Head Nurse at our school, we landed on the idea to create 'bonding blankets'. These are simple squares of wool that the mothers keep by their breast, then give to their baby so that the infant will recognise their scent and feel comforted.
This idea first came to me during the summer holidays, when I stumbled upon an article from the Bangkok Post newspaper about the NICU babies, who are isolated from their parents as a result of the strict hospital conditions they must undergo to survive. With the bonding blankets, the mother and baby are able to connect through scent when they are separated.
After convincing some friends to join me, Sweet Stitch Crochet began creating our bonding squares. Hoping to help as much as possible, I got in touch with a few local hospitals, including the Great Western Hospital, and donated 10 bonding squares to their Neonatal Intensive Care unit.
After much anticpation, the time came to deliver the bonding blankets. My fellow members of Sweet Stitch (April and Millie) and I were able to deliver them with the help of our housemistress to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. It was a truly gratifying experience to be able to help others and we would love to continue and expand our work to many more hospitals.'
Mona, UV